BlackBerry Co-Founder Lazaridis Drops Bid To Take Company Private

Earlier this year BlackBerry put up the “for sale” sign and started actively seeking buyers. There was little interest in the company, which reportedly even courted companies like Facebook. It did receive a $9 per share buyout bid from its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, however that deal didn’t go through. BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin, who had a combined 8 percent stake, made their intention to pursue a buyout bid of their own public. They have formally dropped their buyout efforts, and Lazaridis has even reduced his stake, selling off a block of his shares. As it stands, Lazaridis’ share in BlackBerry is now under 4.99 percent.

On the other hand, BlackBerry has stopped actively seeking a buyer. The company remains public, though it has received a $1 billion investment from its largest shareholder as well as a number of other institutional investors. Major changes have been made as well, there’s now a new CEO who has the reputation of a turnaround expert. Once he had the reins, BlackBerry CEO John Chen showed top executives from the previous regime the door and brought on his own team. During its third fiscal quarter earnings report, the company revealed that it has now partnered with Foxconn for the production of low end devices geared towards emerging markets, while it will now increase its focus on enterprise consumers and software solutions.